MEDIA & CULTURE

Hollywood writers overwhelmingly voted to approve a hard-fought new deal with studios, their union said Monday, officially ending one of the industry's longest ever strikes.

Clad in a Barbie-pink shalwar kameez, influencer and doctor Mehrub Moiz Awan reels off endless examples of harassment she's received since becoming the sharp-tongued figurehead of Pakistan's queer community.

At a mostly empty clinic catering to HIV patients, staff monitor CCTV footage for potential spies, reflecting the fear among Ugandan health workers following the adoption of a controversial anti-gay law.

Fifty years after the original, newly released "The Exorcist: Believer" topped the North American box office this weekend with an estimated $27.2 million in ticket sales, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.

Advance ticket sales for the movie of Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour have topped $100 million worldwide, theater operator AMC said Thursday, making it the best-selling feature-length concert film in history.

The Swedish Academy on Thursday awarded the Nobel literature prize to Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, whose plays are among the most widely staged of any contemporary playwright in Europe.

Celebrated British-Irish actor Michael Gambon, best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight "Harry Potter" films, has died in hospital aged 82, his family announced Thursday, prompting a flood of tributes.

Late-night talk shows, a mainstay of the US TV schedule, will be back on the air within a week, hosts said Wednesday, after leaders of the Writers Guild of America called off a paralyzing strike.

Have movies -- and movie theaters -- finally made their post-pandemic return?

The story of the invention of the atomic bomb told in the new film "Oppenheimer" is a "warning" to the world as we grapple with artificial intelligence, insists the movie's director Christopher Nolan.

Taylor Swift now has more number one albums than any other female artist in history following the recent release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," Billboard said Monday.

Hollywood actors were "duped" into extending negotiations for two weeks by studios who wanted more time to promote their summer blockbuster movies, union president Fran Drescher told AFP on Thursday.

Marvel Comics artist John Romita Snr, primarily known for his work on "The Amazing Spider-Man", has died, his son said Tuesday.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs accuses liquor giant Diageo of racism in lawsuit

Director James Cameron had said the movie needed to reach the $2 billion mark just to break even.

Malte Grunert, producer of "All Quiet On The Western Front" told Reuters the nominations in 14 categories was "unbelievably special when looking at who we are up against and the other nominees, we really are in the best company."

The six-part fly-on-the-wall documentary, "Harry and Meghan", promises to lift the lid on events that prompted the pair to quit royal life and move to the United States in 2020.

The post came hours after an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in which West sparked outrage by declaring his "love" of Nazis and admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Parlement Technologies and Ye had announced plans for the deal in October. At the time the company said it expected the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2022.

The sequel to 2018 Oscar-nominated blockbuster "Black Panther" racked up roughly $180 million at domestic theaters Thursday night through Sunday, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Africa's oldest film festival, held in the capital Tunis, presented a total of 170 films from around 40 countries, and ended with the prizes on Saturday night.

The rapper was a key member of the trend-setting Atlanta-based hip hop trio whose hits include "Bad and Boujee" featuring rapper Lil Uzi Vert, "MotorSport" and "Walk It Talk It."

A new bill introduced this week by the League party, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition, would raise the cash payment ceiling for Italians to 10,000 euros from 2,000 euros today.

"Obviously, this is not something that I thought I would have any time to do", 46-year-old Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir told AFP at an event this week for the book's launch.

"We are excited to announce the remarkably personal and emotionally powerful story of Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex," Penguin Random House said on Twitter.

West -- known formally as Ye -- has made headlines in recent weeks for racist and anti-Semitic statements that have cost him several lucrative fashion collaborations.

The Casablanca-born rapper, who is a massive star in the Arabic-speaking music world, had in late September told reporters who gathered after one of his concerts, "I smoke hash -- so what?... It does not mean I set a bad example."

The extended losses came as Asian markets faced mounting headwinds from hawkish Federal Reserve rate hikes, uncertainties surrounding the once-in-five-years China's Communist Party Congress, and rising Sino-China tensions over Taiwan and tech.

Investors in HYBE Co, BTS' management group, responded to the news by driving its shares up as much as 7.8% on Tuesday.